voyage. There they remained thirty-seven days, and when about to depart, the natives complained of certain cannibals who came each year from an island 100 leagues distant to attack them. The Spaniards, in return for their kindness, promised to avenge their wrongs. Accordingly they sailed north-east and east to a group of islands, some of which were inhabited (Bermudas?); landing at one of them called Ity, they defeated the cannibals, and made 250 prisoners, with a loss of one man killed and twenty-two wounded. Returning, they arrived at Cádiz October 15, 1499, with 222 prisoners, who were sold as slaves. The above is the account given by Vespucci in a letter written in 1504, according to the edition adopted as authentic and original by Varnhagen, _Le premier Voyage de Amerigo Vespucci_, who believes that Vicente Yañez Pinzon and Juan Diaz de Solis were the commanders. This voyage is not generally regarded as authentic; and a long and complicated discussion has arisen on the question whether the account given is to be regarded as true, as wholly a fabrication, or as belonging to a subsequent voyage and accidentally or intentionally dated back two years. As this voyage, if actually made as claimed by M. Varnhagen, would be the first to touch the territory which I denominate the Pacific States, I find it necessary to give in this place the leading points in the discussion. In what may be called the standard authorities on American discovery, such as Navarrete, Humboldt, and others, is found fully presented the question of the authenticity of Vespucci's voyage, always, however, under the supposition that the land claimed to have been visited was the coast of Paria. The theory of M. Varnhagen, that that region must be sought in North America, reopens the question and introduces some new features which cannot be passed by unnoticed in this connection. Without entering upon the somewhat complicated bibliography of Vespucci's narrations, or taking up the question of his claims in the matter of naming America, I shall attempt to state briefly, and as clearly as I am able, the arguments for and against the authenticity of a voyage, in which perhaps is involved the question of the first post-Scandinavian discovery of the North American continent. [Sidenote: THE DISPUTED VOYAGE OF VESPUCCI.]